Toreiru Yokan

Development Story / 開発ストーリー

■ Development notes MIYAGEN and Santokuya are both based in Okazaki, Aichi. Tokugawa Munenobu, who was active mainly in Aichi, was famous for loving tea sweets and is said to have helped seed Aichi's coffee-shop culture. We wanted to make a trail food born of that same Aichi spirit — sweet, satisfying, in the spirit of "Ogura Toast" — and to make trail food easier to eat in the first place. We took the idea to "Santokuya," the wagashi shop right in our neighbourhood, and that conversation was the very start of this product. Santokuya has been making a wide range of wagashi for over a hundred years; they have their own factory and continue to make traditional wagashi. We set out to design a trail snack that met these criteria: • keeps well — can even be eaten in an emergency • doesn't make you thirsty • has bite, the kind that wakes up your appetite • has nutrition beyond just sugar With those criteria in hand, we iterated on ingredients and recipes until we landed here.

Design Concept / 設計コンセプト

Design Concept

This crunchy trail food is generously packed with nutrient-rich walnuts. Inspired by "Ogura Toast," a dish from Aichi's coffee shop culture, it blends the appeal of Japanese and Western flavors by incorporating the savory taste of cookies as an accent. The sweetness of the yokan (sweet bean jelly) combined with the crunchy texture of the walnuts stimulates the appetite. The aroma of the cookies and a touch of rock salt harmonize the balance of sweetness and saltiness. The carbohydrates in the yokan provide immediate energy, the plant-based protein in the walnuts helps repair the body, and the lipids provide sustained energy, making it ideal for prolonged activity. Because the sugar content is maximized, it has a long shelf life and is also suitable as emergency food.

Function & Detail / 機能ディティール

About walnuts

Walnuts are an extremely energy-dense food — second only to butter (about 750 kcal/100 g). They are rich in protein, on par with egg yolk (about 16.5 g). They are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are important fats for the body.

About yokan

Yokan is a sweet that has been loved in Japan for centuries. It's a wagashi made mainly from azuki beans, sugar, and agar. The energy content is high — about 295 kcal per 100 g — making it a food whose calories come mostly from sugar. The sugar content is also high (about 67 g per 100 g) and converts into energy quickly, so it's ideal as efficient energy support during long activity or anything that demands stamina. It also contains a generous amount of vitamins and polyphenols from azuki. The "antioxidant action" helps protect healthy cells while supporting recovery from fatigue. The antioxidant effect of polyphenols is especially useful after exercise or in stressful environments.

Thoughts after launch — having eaten plenty Because this was a joint project with Santokuya, and because they're right next door to me, every time a sample was ready I tasted it and pushed feedback straight back into the recipe. We tried almonds in addition to walnuts, roasting them, changing the origin of the sugar and azuki — they helped me think through countless variations. I'm so glad we got to release this, and that we got to do it together within the same town. Santokuya has more than 100 years of history, longer than MIYAGEN itself. But the current shop owner is around my age and a childhood friend. I feel proud that we got to work together. MIYAGEN is appointment-only and not so easy to drop into. Santokuya, on the other hand, is open on every day except their regular closing day. They sell Trail Yokan as well, so please feel welcome to drop by — they have an eat-in space too. I hope you enjoy their seasonal wagashi as well. Personally, I really want everyone to try Santokuya's mitarashi dango — the taste of Santokuya has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. The display fixtures are designed by MIYAGEN and will be placed at partner shops; if you spot one, I'd love it if you also took a look at the fixture.

A recommendation, from a sake shop A note from the sake-shop side: Trail Yokan pairs incredibly well with whisky. I'm not articulate enough to write the kind of tasting notes you'd find in a whisky review — I just go by "if it's tasty, that's enough." Working late at night with a casual whisky, I tried a half-eaten Trail Yokan, and I noticed how perfectly it melts on the tongue. For a start, try it with the most accessible and tasty Japanese blended whiskies — Suntory's Old or Suntory Reserve. At home, slice into roughly 1 cm pieces — bite-size — and enjoy it slowly. People often say chocolate goes with whisky, but this is a completely different harmony. The aroma of the whisky isn't covered up; the agar-set yokan slowly melts at body temperature and entwines with the whisky, and the way the flavour shifts is just right. Japanese or Scotch. Neat, on the rocks, or as a highball. * Please don't drink or eat too much.

Specs & Materials / スペック・素材

Food Info / 食品情報